STORIES FOR BOYS.
Ma. PERCY F. Wnsrsamax has written an exciting story of a modern pirate, entitled The Third Officer (Blackie. 6s. net). The pirate is an ex-Russian cruiser commanded by South American and Russian desperadoes, who have a secret base made by the Germans in the mid-Pacific. The adventures of the crew of a tramp steamer, which is captured by the pirate, aro cleverly told, with due attention to technical detail. Mr. Westerman provides two maps of the islands mentioned in the story, but his own descriptions are so lucid that the maps are not really necessary.—In another book, Sea Scouts Abroad (same publishers, 5s. net), Mr. Westerman continues the story of the sea scouts whom he introduced a year ago. In their motor-boat, the ' Olivette,' these lively youths, with theit scoutmaster, cruise up Channel from Weymouth to the Isle of Wight, across to Havre and up the Seine, where they are almost swamped by the bore and then are run down by a drifting barge. It is a cheerful and well-written account of experiences that might happen to any youthful yachtsmen.—The Cruise of the 'Endeavour,' by R. H. Barbour and H. P. Holt (Harrap, 6s. net), is concerned with two American boys, who charter a small schooner, load her with timber and sail for Europe in the middle of the War. Their crew are mutinous, and they fall in with a U' boat which damages the schooner by gunfire and compels them to run her ashore on a small island in the Azores. They discover by chance a ' U' boat base in the ishind and contrive to escape and warn an American destroyer, whose commander traps an enemy vessel. The story is simply told and ends with the boys selling their timber at a profit and return • ing to America for more.—Comrades Ever, by Escott Lynn (Chambers, 6s. net), is a vigorous tale of the German invasion of Northern Nyasaland. There is plenty of fighting, and there is a full account—unhappily founded on fact—of the brutal treatment inflicted on British prisoners by the German officers. —The Last of the Baron, by E. A. Wyke Smith (H. Milford, 5s. net), is a mediaeval story told in a very modern and humorous style. It reminds us in some ways of Mark Twain's Yankee at the Court of King Arthur, which was not one of his successes. Mr. Wyko Smith's jocularity will shock some young readers, although his tale is well constructed.
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